Does Smallpox Vaccination Always Leave a Scar?

All this talk about smallpox has got me thinking . . .

I was born in the United States in late 1970. Supposedly, they were still vaccinating for smallpox at that time. (My understanding is that they stopped in 1972.)

But I don’t have a scar on my shoulder. What gives? Are my parents closet Christian Scientists?

Interesting bit of trivia: Mrs. Lucwarm was vaccinated in France and bears a scar on the arch of her foot. She says that the French health authorities had decided to avoid marring the arms of their female population.

I used to be able to find mine. I can’t anymore. I remember I had to be vaccinated twice before it would take, and didn’t leave that prominent a scar, but there was one. Over the years, it seems to have disappeared.

I’ve been vaccinated many times throughout the years and have never had a scar or even an indication that I had been vaccinated. I think that means that it ‘took’ (at least that’s what the docs said), but I’m not really sure.

Bob

The vaccination was given to 5 and 6 yr. olds before they started school. It took a couple of weeks for the thing to heal, in the mean time your walking around with a hard crusty nipple thing sticking out of your shoulder. Then it falls off and leaves the scar. The summer I got mine, I wasn’t allowed to swim in the public pool, I don’t know what the hell that was about, but whenever a kid showed up at the pool with a scab on there shoulder they were sent home.

The swimming pool prohibition was probably because as long as you have the scab you’re mildly contaigous and spreading cowpox virus around. It was to prevent spread of the cowpox to parts of someone else’s body.

It’s possible that the scar some people had has faded entirely away. Mine was never very prominent and I really have to hunt for it nowadays.

It is entirely possible that someone born in 1970 was never vaccinated - it wasn’t mandatory until school entry, which would have been around 1975 or 1976 for such a person, which is after vaccinating for the general public was discontinued.

My sister was born in Jan 71, and it was not required. Our doctor wanted her to have it anyway. I had four vaccinations ending in '73 due to my being born in the early 60s and travelling when I was a kid.

“Mrs. Lucwarm was vaccinated in France and bears a scar on the arch of her foot. She says that the French health authorities had decided to avoid marring the arms of their female population.”

Maybe, but I suspect it was her mother who chose the vaccination site, not the “authorities.” Other sites used to avoid marring the arms of females include the inner thigh and abdomen.

“I’ve been vaccinated many times throughout the years and have never had a scar or even an indication that I had been vaccinated. I think that means that it ‘took’ (at least that’s what the docs said), but I’m not really sure.”

When a vaccination for smallpox “takes” it causes significant inflammation and tissue destruction (as described by hillbilly queen) which usually leaves a scar. You probably had a scar from your first vaccination that faded. Once vaccinated, subsequent reactions are less marked and less likely to leave a scar.

“The swimming pool prohibition was probably because as long as you have the scab you’re mildly contaigous and spreading cowpox virus around. It was to prevent spread of the cowpox to parts of someone else’s body.”

I don’t know whether the vaccinia virus (it’s not really cowpox virus) oozing from a scab could survive the chlorine in a public pool but it is very true that vaccinia virus is dangerous. In the last smallpox outbreak in the U.S. in New York in 1947, there were, IIRC, 8 cases and 2 deaths. As part of the control efforts, IIRC, about 6 m people were vaccinated of whom 6 died. The vaccine can cause serious complications and even death among those vaccinated and definitely can cause serious complications and death among contacts of vaccinated persons. This is one important reason why eradicating smallpox from the wild was such an important achievement–if prevented both smallpox and the morbidity and mortality associated with smallpox vaccination.

Yes. We do need a better vaccine, just in case.

I was born in 1970 and didn’t get the vaccination.

My Mother refused to let the doctor give it to me, insisting that (at the time) smallpox was such a low risk in the States that the risk from the actual vaccine wasn’t worth it.

She made me get all my other ones though. :slight_smile:

The authorities (whoever they are) said that if everyone in the US was vaccinated, there would be 500 deaths from the vaccination.

I heard (on the SDMB, I think :D) that it would be 300. But the concept is the same: Vaccines aren’t all good, and there are risks involved with all of them.

But think of it this way: Less than a thousand deaths weighed against the possible millions of deaths we face if a widespread smallpox outbreak is unleashed on the US is a very acceptable loss.

I was vaccinated seven times in my life, between 1947, and 1966. I have no scars from vaccinations. My mother was vaccinated during her first trimester of pregnancy with me. I seem to have suffered no side effects from that.

Tris

My real psychic friends call me, when I need advice.

Let me add to the number of people who say that they were vaccinated and have no scar to show for it. I was born in '68 and distinctly remember being vaccinated for it at least once (think I can remember a second time, but my memory’s a bit hazy, senility setting in I suppose :wink: ). Also many of the people in my age group had no scarring from the vaccination (can remember us having a discussion on it in health class once), in fact, I can remember seeing the scar as a rarity even among older people. My brothers (one’s fifteen years older than me and the other’s ten years older than I am) have no scars, but both of them would have been vaccinated repeatedly for smallpox.